Principle, desire to do what he believes is right drives MP to fight for anti-abortion statement

Conservative MP Mark Warawa appears before the Commons house affairs committee to discuss his motion, Wednesday, March 27, 2013.

Photograph by: Fred Chartrand
, THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — Mark Warawa’s name would never have popped up a month ago in a discussion over which backbench MP was most likely to lead a rebellion against Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s steely grip on caucus.

The affable former insurance executive and devout Mennonite from Langley doesn’t have a record of making controversial comments or criticizing his Conservative party or its leader in almost a decade in Parliament.

But Warawa has suddenly become the centre of a political storm as he fights to have his motion, which calls on MPs to condemn so-called sex-selection abortion, go to a vote in the House of Commons.

His campaign has gone beyond abortion, with many MPs and commentators portraying it as a freedom-of-speech issue

“Mark’s a decent man, he’s a principled guy and he wants to do what he thinks is right,” said one of his constituents and a former caucus colleague, B.C. Conservative leader John Cummins.

“But no, I certainly didn’t see this in him,” added Cummins, who was an outspoken party maverick during his own career in Parliament from 1993 to 2011. “He’s pretty much a team player and was sort of focused on his political career (so) it’s a little bit surprising.”

That view of Warawa, a former Abbotsford city councillor first elected to the House of Commons in 2004, was seconded by veteran B.C. journalist Frank Bucholtz.

“He’s certainly an unlikely leader of a rebellion. He’s no John Cummins, let’s put it that way,” the Langley Times editor said Thursday. He said Warawa is popular in the community.

Warawa, who turned down a Vancouver Sun request for an interview, suffered a setback Thursday when a parliamentary committee rejected his appeal to bring his motion to the Commons floor for a vote.

Warawa is waiting for the speaker to rule on his complaint that he should not have been barred by his party leadership last week from making a statement in the House.

“Each of us has that responsibility to represent our communities, the people who elected us. We need to have those rights ensured,” Warawa told the Commons Tuesday.

Warawa left open the option Thursday of making a direct appeal to the House of Commons, which requires the support of five MPs from at least two recognized parties.

Warawa’s support network, meanwhile, continues to grow.

Conservatives John Williamson, Stephen Woodworth and Kyle Seeback on Thursday made statements of support, joining two other Tories, Leon Benoit and Brent Rathgeber, who earlier this week also objected to the party’s refusal to let him make a statement in Parliament.

All these Conservative MPs are from ridings east of the Rockies. None of 20 B.C. Tory MPs have publicly defended their colleague’s position, though many hold similar social conservative views.

Warawa’s battle began in September when he introduced his motion. He said was in response to a CBC investigative documentary showing that some couples were going to private ultrasound clinics in Canada and, if they learned their expected child was female, would terminate the pregnancy.

The motion wasn’t welcomed by Harper, who has vowed that a Conservative government led by him will never enact abortion legislation.

A Warawa supporter and member of his church, the North Langley Community Church that is part of the Mennonite Brethren denomination, said Thursday he’s “disappointed” that Harper wouldn’t let the MP have the chance to speak out or have his motion put to a vote.

‘I think he’s taking a very courageous stand,” Tim McCarthy said, comparing Warawa’s position to that of English politician William Wilberforce, an evangelical Christian who battled slavery in the early 1800s.

While he has his doubts the anti-abortion movement is close to a breakthrough in Canada, which has been without a law on abortion since a 1988 Supreme Court of Canada ruling, he said Warawa’s battle is worth fighting.

“Even if nothing were to change, my perspective is that we’re not only accountable to history or even to constituents. We’re accountable to God and to doing the right thing.

“Knowing where Mark stands on his faith, and I don’t mean this in the abortion sense but in the integrity sense, if you are given these convictions you have to live with yourself and your relationship with God, according to the choices that you make.”

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